Long Beach’s Stein, Steele Are Honored

Long Beach quarterback Sean Stein, a sophomore from Los Alamitos High, has been named the Mission Conference Northern Division offensive player of the year by a vote of the conference coaches.

Stein passed for 2,592 yards and 27 touchdowns in leading the Vikings to a 10-0 mark. He was the highest rated quarterback in the state.

Teammate Marcus Steele (linebacker) was the division’s defensive player of the year.

Palomar running back Joe Hall was the offensive player of the year and teammate linebacker Dylan Robles was the defensive player of the year in the Central Division.

Orange Coast, the only Orange County team in the Northern Division, had two players--wide receiver Ivan Mercer and offensive lineman Jeremy Via--on the first team offense.

The All-Central Division first team:

OFFENSE

QB--Tony Alvarez (Palomar), Archie Lappin (Santa Ana); RB--Joe Hall (Pal), Prescott Hill (Fullerton), Camron King (SA), Julio Peraza (Saddleback); WR--Rob Caston (SA), Brandon Marshall (Pal), Paul Tessier (Golden West); TE--Paul Wise (Fullerton); OL--Jason Henry (Pal), Joe Iantorno (SA), David Marrno (Pal), David Plenty Hawk (Riv), Mitch White (Pal); K--James Zurn (Fullerton).

DEFENSE

DL--Rochelle Aiken (Pal), Ray Jorden (SA), D.J. Kolb (Riv), Toby Minier (S), Prescott Unutoa (Pal); LB--Brian Berg (S), Mark Helton (Riv), Jimmy Malo (Pal), Dylan Robles (Pal); DB--Chris Cash (Pal), Terrance Gray (Pal), Larry Page (S), Garret Pavel (Pal); P--Justin Sisco (Riv); KR--Prescott Hill (Fullerton).

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Golden West, the top-ranked women’s volleyball team in the state, will play San Joaquin Delta at 8 p.m. Friday in the first round of the state tournament at College of Sequoias. Golden West (22-0), winner of the last five state titles, is the top-seeded team from Southern California. San Joaquin Delta is 14-1.

Saddleback (21-2), which advances to the state tournament for the second year in a row, plays Foothill (15-0) at 6 p.m. Friday. In other first-round matches, Long Beach (16-0) plays Santa Rosa (21-0) at 6 p.m. and El Camino (17-3) meets Reedley (20-0) at 8 p.m.

Play continues in the double-elimination tournament through the weekend with the championship match set for 5 p.m. Sunday.